convictioncharacterizingoursecularageisthattheworldasawhole,orat
least all of it that really matters, can be described in purely immanent
terms, and humanflourishing accomplished by worldly means, without
appeal to a religious creed or supernatural influences. Taylor refers to this
kind of thinking as‘exclusive or self-sufficient humanism’.^37 For adherents
to this view, the expression‘Christian humanism’appears contradictory.
Secular, exclusive, and self-sufficient humanists consequently call their belief
simply‘humanism’.^38
Christian humanists argue on the contrary that full humanflourishing is
possible only through faith in God and requires divine help. As Martin
Schlag points out in chapter 10 of this volume, many Christians themselves
have forgotten, however, that an essential aim of Christianity is full personal
development in a universal sense that concerns not only one’s relationship
to God but also one’s happiness on earth. Humanflourishing is not limited
to wealth, prosperity, honours, and power, and not even to mere joy or
cheerfulness in a superficial emotional sense; rather,flourishing includes and
arises from the deepest layers of contentment that give meaning and sense
to human existence. Christian humanism thus affirms the transcendent
mental and spiritual dimensions that lend purpose to human life, work, society,
and culture.
Christian humanism shares its concern for all these things with other forms
of humanism, and more often than not joins forces with them to protect
common values, but it differs from them infinding their motivation in the
central beliefs of the Christian faith. Indeed, as Justin Martyr’s quotation
above indicates, on the very basis of their faith in one common Logos—the
eternal word and wisdom of God—genuine Christian humanism is generous
by nature, interested in all sources that contribute to humanflourishing. This
interest, however, derives its motivating power from the belief, reflected in this
volume’s subtitle, that education and social engagement are subservient to the
restoration of our full humanity as intended by God.
Because of its allegiance to many secular endeavours that promote human
well-being, Christian humanism is a long-standing feature of intellectual
history without being well-defined or structured. Not simply reducible to a
set of principles, Christian humanism is rather a certain attitude or impulse
that quickens human awareness in different historical circumstances. Martin
Marty hasfittingly referred to Christian humanism as‘afluid rather than a
(^37) Taylor,A Secular Age, 18.
(^38) Paradoxically, in 1961 the US Supreme Court recognized non-religious humanism as a
religion. Its main tenets of scientistic faith are contained in the Humanist Manifestos of 1933 and
1973: human beings are at the centre of the universe, nature is all that exists, happiness and
enrichment of human life now are all that we should aim at, scientific reason is all that is
necessary, and religions are a hindrance rather than a help in this endeavour. See J. I. Packer and
Thomas Howard,Christianity: The True Humanism(Waco, TX: Word Publishing, 1985), 18.
Introduction 11